A conventional display method of file data disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 129448/1995 (Tokukaihei No. 7-129448), is a method of displaying a list of the files. The attributes, such as the owner, size, and type of the files, are also displayed along the file titles. Since more than a screenful of data can not be displayed at one time, the user tries to find the necessary data by scrolling the screen.
Further, this method is often combined with another method of classifying and arranging the files using a directory or a folder as a managing system of a plurality of files, so that the data can be managed hierarchically.
In the case of an image database, a reduced image (thumbnail) is displayed to present a screen content as a data list display method. When a data volume exceeds a screenful of data, the user tries to find the necessary data by scrolling the screen like he does with the list of the files.
In the above data display methods, if the data are retrieved based on retrieval information inputted through an information input device, such as a keyboard and icons, a cursor moves to the extracted data (moving of view fixed point), or the extracted data are displayed in reverse or in another window.
In the conventional display method with hierarchal management, if the user wishes to display the data of a specific file, he can not know the data content in the files until he accesses the directory and checks the list of the files on the display. Thus, if the files are divided into many categories or managed in a deep hierarchy, the user has to access the directory more often and it takes a time to obtain the necessary information.
In the case of the list of reduced images of the image database, the user can readily understand the image content. However, as a volume of the data increases and exceeds a screenful of data, it becomes impossible to obtain the image content simultaneously with the information as to which images were created earlier than which.
In addition, neither the file titles nor attributes of the images in the files can be displayed simultaneously with the image contents. Thus, the corresponding data must be displayed separately for selected images alone, or a list of the file titles must be displayed separately with the attributes, such as the owner, size, or type of the files. In other words, to obtain accurate information, the above image display method must be combined with another data display method, and therefore, demands extra works, such as screen switching.
Further, the data containing both an image and a text can be handled only in the level of files. Thus, it is difficult for the user to handle the data of different formats while understanding the content thereof.
As has been explained, the conventional data display methods have a problem in that the user can not understand the characteristics of each item of the data at a glance while understanding a relationship among the data, such as positions in terms of time and categories, in a straightforward manner, thereby making it difficult for the user to manage the data or recognize the information he needs.